I been a learning beekeeper since 1968 and a bee inspector since 1969 for 39 years averaging 1000 to1200 hives doing Logan and auglaize county’s each year,,,wow,I learned soo much about inspection,keeping bees and getting them through our winters..my good friend and inspector for auglaize county (Rusells lamp) found that I run my colonies in 3 deeps year around so he told me he ran 3 deeps rear round plus a2queen system prior and a couple weeks into our honey flow and then unites them together to a hive a 300 lbs off of most colonies crop of honey…I called Dadant to find if anyone up there did 2queen unites for an increased honey crop and a beekeeper at hemlock,michigan and I talked and he was running 1200 single queen colonies and switched to 2 queen units with a new queen about apple bloom time on top separated with a double screen till the top unit fills with bees,,goes in,dequeens and unites the two queen up on top with the queenless on the bottom with newspaper with slits gashed into the newspaper and (now I put the old queen on top with 2 frames of her brood and bees for a happy reunion and she goes on laying filling the fourth deep for an (extra nuc,,,a brood builder for a weaker colony,,,,and it works perfectly well to feed it up heavily in august and treat it in late august or very early September plus treat the bottom unit also for mites….the top unit with a smaller three eights by two inch opening facing the rear….with the bottom unit very heavy and the top very heavy heavy with the top unit receiving warm air through the (double screen) you have a strong single for next spring to increase you numbers or split the top single and have a new queen or two queens to make two Nucs with one to sell and one to keep for increase or a colony that’s struggling and my honey crop touches 275 to 325 lbs..plus consistently strong colonies,,,,I agreed and enjoyed your well informed presentations that you freely shared. Call any time ,,jim kerns at Bellefontaine ,Ohio 43311….
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer I'll send you a photo of the 2 massive power lines I am next too. It's really an amazing spot to keep bees. I wish I had 100 hives to use the flowers we have here.
@@colette8694 I’m actually picking some more bees up out of Utah. Nucs and packages. My local guy brings bees in from Northern California. Last couple years those have not done well for me. That's why I'm trying the bees out of Utah.
@@maggiewatte7911 Any bees I buy from Calif have never survived the winter because they’re not used to these Idaho freezing temperatures. I am going with Bees being shipped out of Pennsylvania this year from Mann Lakes
@@maggiewatte7911 that might be even better. Can I get his contact info. I just wanna make sure the bees aren’t Italian bees that came from California. born and bred in Utah is ideal 🐝
Winter preparation begins in March by keeping Varroa mites under 2% ALL season long. That's my secret to 100% wintering success. That, and I'm not too greedy at harvest time and I keep colonies strong by preventing swarming.
@@garrisonbeehives5959, I don't treat prophylactically or by the calendar. I don't use splits, queen confinement, or brood breaks to control mites. I requeen half my colonies each spring so I always have strong queens. I usually use Carniolans, but this year I tried Buckfasts. I don't see much difference in Varroa resistance between the two races. I do bi-weekly inspections and monthly mite counts. I add a super when 70% of the frames in the fullest box are covered with bees. This swarm-prevention technique keeps my colonies strong which I think helps control mites. I treat ALL my colonies immediately when the mite count hits 2% in one or more colonies in my apiary. I rotate between MAQS (Option 2 - half dose - 1 strip at a time - repeated a month later), Apivar, and ApiLifeVAR. I do another mike count after treatment is complete. So far, I've never needed to do a follow-up treatment in 11 years (I began beekeeping in the early '60s, long before Varroa). My mite count all this year has been 2 or less per hive (I have 11 colonies). So, I haven't found the need to treat this year -- until one colony hit 3% at the end of July. I never open-feed (rarely feed at all) or put "wet" frames/supers out for every diseased and parasite-laden bee within miles to rob. I believe this gives me considerable protection. I'm hardly isolated. I know of two other beekeepers within a half mile of me who had their colonies collapse this year due to mites. Your mileage may vary. BTW, My harvest this year in the Utah high desert averaged nine deep frames of liquid gold per hive -- with no artificial feeding whatsoever. This year's severe drought seems to have been good for me -- that just doesn't make sense.
Guess that depends on your location. Our winter prep begins in August by getting the mite load down if needed. And making sure they have enough food but there are fall flows in many area.
Put a nail in it on those mites and also nosema. The next if you haven’t endure food from the treatments ensure they are always in contact with food and supply food on those day below 15 f if your at weight. Ensure you prevent air gaps because the wind chill will kill your bees faster than you can shake a stick at it.
I live in the state of Pennsylvania I am a noob Beekeeper I have one brood box with bees it started out as a nuke I don’t want to kill 300 bees to take the Mike test because that would even knock down my population more do you recommend anything I heard if you break the brood cycle it would be a big help what do you recommend thank you so much
Brood breaks can help some but nothing works better than treatment. A lot of folks can't bare to kill 300 bees to sample for mites. I suggest then that you treat to a schedule of when others in your area also treat (usually 2 or more times per season). To rationalize the reluctance to sample think of it this way. Killing 300 bees in a sample is killing approximately the number of bees the queen produces (in eggs) in 2 hours. The information it provides will help to avoid the whole colony (20,000-50,000 bees) dieing.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer Thank you it makes sense just has it been a strong hive since I started it I just don’t want to lose the rest thank you so much have a good day
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I been a learning beekeeper since 1968 and a bee inspector since 1969 for 39 years averaging 1000 to1200 hives doing Logan and auglaize county’s each year,,,wow,I learned soo much about inspection,keeping bees and getting them through our winters..my good friend and inspector for auglaize county (Rusells lamp) found that I run my colonies in 3 deeps year around so he told me he ran 3 deeps rear round plus a2queen system prior and a couple weeks into our honey flow and then unites them together to a hive a 300 lbs off of most colonies crop of honey…I called Dadant to find if anyone up there did 2queen unites for an increased honey crop and a beekeeper at hemlock,michigan and I talked and he was running 1200 single queen colonies and switched to 2 queen units with a new queen about apple bloom time on top separated with a double screen till the top unit fills with bees,,goes in,dequeens and unites the two queen up on top with the queenless on the bottom with newspaper with slits gashed into the newspaper and (now I put the old queen on top with 2 frames of her brood and bees for a happy reunion and she goes on laying filling the fourth deep for an (extra nuc,,,a brood builder for a weaker colony,,,,and it works perfectly well to feed it up heavily in august and treat it in late august or very early September plus treat the bottom unit also for mites….the top unit with a smaller three eights by two inch opening facing the rear….with the bottom unit very heavy and the top very heavy heavy with the top unit receiving warm air through the (double screen) you have a strong single for next spring to increase you numbers or split the top single and have a new queen or two queens to make two Nucs with one to sell and one to keep for increase or a colony that’s struggling and my honey crop touches 275 to 325 lbs..plus consistently strong colonies,,,,I agreed and enjoyed your well informed presentations that you freely shared. Call any time ,,jim kerns at Bellefontaine ,Ohio 43311….
Wow a lot to take in there! Will re-read a few times at least!
Thank you very much Peter. This is one of the topics I worry about the most. There's no point in doing honey if I can't get them to survive.
No problem
Thanks Peter,
Your videos are always helpful
Thanks, Glad to hear that!
Great information. Thanks for the videos.
Glad you like them!
Rich knowledge.
Thanks
where I live in Orrington we have a small flow. each hive has put on 25lbs so far. the rain and my location has really helped
Promising, the recent rain may boost it yet. I will have to tell my bees to cross the river!
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer I'll send you a photo of the 2 massive power lines I am next too. It's really an amazing spot to keep bees. I wish I had 100 hives to use the flowers we have here.
Good morning..How are you?
I’m in south central Idaho. Your weather pattern is very close to ours
Hi
I’m from Idaho. Looking for some healthy bees who have made it thru the winter. Glad to meet a fellow beekeeper 🐝
@@colette8694 I’m actually picking some more bees up out of Utah. Nucs and packages. My local guy brings bees in from Northern California. Last couple years those have not done well for me. That's why I'm trying the bees out of Utah.
@@maggiewatte7911 Any bees I buy from Calif have never survived the winter because they’re not used to these Idaho freezing temperatures. I am going with Bees being shipped out of Pennsylvania this year from Mann Lakes
@@colette8694 this guy from Utah are raised in Logan and Ogden
@@maggiewatte7911 that might be even better. Can I get his contact info. I just wanna make sure the bees aren’t Italian bees that came from California. born and bred in Utah is ideal 🐝
Winter preparation begins in March by keeping Varroa mites under 2% ALL season long. That's my secret to 100% wintering success. That, and I'm not too greedy at harvest time and I keep colonies strong by preventing swarming.
What do you use to treat and how often?
@@garrisonbeehives5959, I don't treat prophylactically or by the calendar. I don't use splits, queen confinement, or brood breaks to control mites.
I requeen half my colonies each spring so I always have strong queens. I usually use Carniolans, but this year I tried Buckfasts. I don't see much difference in Varroa resistance between the two races.
I do bi-weekly inspections and monthly mite counts. I add a super when 70% of the frames in the fullest box are covered with bees. This swarm-prevention technique keeps my colonies strong which I think helps control mites.
I treat ALL my colonies immediately when the mite count hits 2% in one or more colonies in my apiary. I rotate between MAQS (Option 2 - half dose - 1 strip at a time - repeated a month later), Apivar, and ApiLifeVAR. I do another mike count after treatment is complete. So far, I've never needed to do a follow-up treatment in 11 years (I began beekeeping in the early '60s, long before Varroa).
My mite count all this year has been 2 or less per hive (I have 11 colonies). So, I haven't found the need to treat this year -- until one colony hit 3% at the end of July.
I never open-feed (rarely feed at all) or put "wet" frames/supers out for every diseased and parasite-laden bee within miles to rob. I believe this gives me considerable protection.
I'm hardly isolated. I know of two other beekeepers within a half mile of me who had their colonies collapse this year due to mites.
Your mileage may vary.
BTW, My harvest this year in the Utah high desert averaged nine deep frames of liquid gold per hive -- with no artificial feeding whatsoever. This year's severe drought seems to have been good for me -- that just doesn't make sense.
Guess that depends on your location. Our winter prep begins in August by getting the mite load down if needed. And making sure they have enough food but there are fall flows in many area.
Under 2% all season long is essential.
@@BlaineNay where do you get the buckfast queens
Put a nail in it on those mites and also nosema. The next if you haven’t endure food from the treatments ensure they are always in contact with food and supply food on those day below 15 f if your at weight. Ensure you prevent air gaps because the wind chill will kill your bees faster than you can shake a stick at it.
I live in the state of Pennsylvania I am a noob Beekeeper I have one brood box with bees it started out as a nuke I don’t want to kill 300 bees to take the Mike test because that would even knock down my population more do you recommend anything I heard if you break the brood cycle it would be a big help what do you recommend thank you so much
Brood breaks can help some but nothing works better than treatment. A lot of folks can't bare to kill 300 bees to sample for mites. I suggest then that you treat to a schedule of when others in your area also treat (usually 2 or more times per season). To rationalize the reluctance to sample think of it this way. Killing 300 bees in a sample is killing approximately the number of bees the queen produces (in eggs) in 2 hours. The information it provides will help to avoid the whole colony (20,000-50,000 bees) dieing.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer Thank you it makes sense just has it been a strong hive since I started it I just don’t want to lose the rest thank you so much have a good day